Hardware dedication for virtual machines and virtual environments

Abstract

A system and method for implementing direct attachment of VMs, implemented on a computer system, to hardware devices attached to the computer system. Direct attachment architecture is implemented. The direct attachment is an exclusive dedication of a hardware device to a VM, where a particular hardware device is assigned to a particular VM. When the VM is not activated, the hardware device can be re-assigned to another VM. At system start up, hardware devices are masked from a host OS of a computer system and are automatically attached to the assigned VMs.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for assigning a hardware device to a Virtual Machine (VM), the method comprising:
 on a computer system with a host operating system (OS) and a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), implementing at least one VM running under control of the VMM; 
 giving the VM exclusive control of the hardware device by bypassing the VMM when the VM interfaces with the hardware device; and 
 isolating the hardware device by modifying allocation of devices of the host OS at boot time so that the host OS sees the hardware device as inactive, 
 wherein the isolating is provided by (a) patching of BIOS of the computer system or (b) patching an EFI of the computer system. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising assigning the hardware device to the VM at boot time of the VM. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising using a dedicated driver to make the hardware device inaccessible to the host OS. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein, upon attempting to access the hardware device, the host OS receives a “busy” indication from the dedicated driver. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the isolating comprises masking the hardware device from the host OS. 
     
     
       6. A method for assigning a dedicated hardware device to a Virtual Machine (VM), the method comprising:
 implementing at least one VM on a host OS of a computer system; 
 isolating a hardware device from the host OS by modifying allocation of devices of the host OS so that the host OS' access to the hardware device is limited; and 
 giving the VM exclusive control of the hardware device so that the VM bypasses a supervisory component when accessing the hardware device; 
 wherein the hardware device is visible but inactive for the host OS, and 
 wherein a table of devices or a registry of the host OS are patched at boot time. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising shutting down the VM and making the hardware device active to the host OS. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the hardware device is a plug-and-play device, and wherein a guest OS of the VM installs plug-and-play drivers for connecting the VM to the hardware device. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the access to hardware device for detection existence of the hardware device is allowed to the host OS. 
     
     
       10. A virtualization system for allocating dedicated hardware devices, the system comprising:
 a computer system having a host OS and a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM); 
 at least one Virtual Machine (VM) implemented under control of the VMM; 
 at least one hardware device connected to the computer system, wherein the hardware device is isolated from the host OS by modifying allocation of devices of the host OS so that the host OS sees the hardware device as inactive, 
 wherein the VM takes exclusive control of the hardware device at start up by bypassing the VMM when interfacing with the hardware device; 
 wherein the host OS does not have access to an address of the hardware device at boot time through (a) patching of BIOS of the computer system or (b) patching an EFI of the computer system. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10 , wherein the hardware device is masked out from the host OS. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the hardware device is masked out by allocation of address space of the computer system. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the supervisory component is a Virtual Machine Monitor. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the supervisory component is a hypervisor.